Abstract:

Introduction: We have shown that sputum is a feasible biofluid for analysis of biomarkers using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis and that FTIR can detect different patterns of metabolites between patients with lung cancer and healthy volunteers.1 Aim: To analyse further the FTIR spectrometric patterns in more patients with lung cancer and also smokers deemed 'high risk'. To identify what actual compounds may differentiate cancer from non-cancer sputum samples. Methods: Loco-regional ethical permission was obtained.